Making Time With Adderall

Adderall XR Capsules

With only 24 hours in a day, many New York University students are having trouble finding the time to finish all of their schoolwork. And it’s understandable. With a required four classes each semester and an average of two hours of homework every night, most NYU students spend a minimum of 20 hours each week studying or in class. And that’s not counting the time students spend on internships or working at a part-time job. For many, the hours start to add up quickly.

“This semester, I have way more than I can do,” said Chole Moffett, a NYU junior majoring in comparative literature. On average, Moffett spends 10 hours each week working on homework for her classes. “There’s usually more than is feasible to get done, and I usually don’t get it done.” 

For Moffett, finding a way to do the bare minimum amount of work and still pass has become an art form. 

Moffett is not alone in finding it difficult to finish her homework. Alex Merrill, a NYU sophomore studying pre-med estimates that she spends roughly 20 hours each week studying, and sometimes that’s still not enough. 

“I can’t even add up the hours,” Merrill said as she lifted a dense biology book from her backpack. The text, a requirement for all pre-med students, had nearly enough pages to be considered a lethal weapon. “Drop this, and you’ll really do some damage,” Merrill joked. 

Setting the book beside her on the worn leather couch in NYU’s Bobst Library, Merrill prepared for the long haul. “I’ve got a paper due tomorrow,” she said, “So I’ll probably be here all night.” 

An overnight stay at Bobst is, for many NYU students, nothing unheard of. For students like Merrill, it is expected. “It’s a lot,” she said, “But I guess that’s what you assume in college.”

But not every student shares this opinion. For some, prescription medication is an easy fix. 

Adderall, or a combination of dextroamphetamine and amphetamine, is traditionally used as a prescription treatment for attention deficit disorders, narcolepsy, depression, and obesity, according to DrugEnquirer and adderall.net. But for many NYU students taking these pills without a prescription, Adderall has easily become their illegal substance of choice. These students, however, don’t pop these pills for the high. For many NYU students, Adderall is a study drug.

While the occasional student does take Adderall recreationally, the majority of NYU students using Adderall do so for the extreme focus provided by the pills. According to Merrill, eight of her friends who are also studying pre-med all take Adderall before every exam. 

For one NYU sophomore majoring in English literature and earning a double minor in law and society and psychology, taking Adderall made it much easier to finish the 800 pages of reading she was assigned on average each week. 

“It was amazing,” she said, recalling the high she felt after first taking one 10 milligram pill. “I felt like I was the best version of me possible because, not only was I getting everything done, but I was doing everything faster and better.” 

On Adderall, this student was able to finish a five page paper in under 30 minutes, a task that, without the medication, would have taken her the better part of the afternoon. 

“It was the quality of the work and the whole processing everything that made it awesome,” she said. “I would read something and I would just process it instantly, and I’d remember it the next day too. That would never happen if I did my homework without Adderall. I was like superwoman.” 

30 Milligram Tablets of Adderall

Ten milligrams, for many, is a very basic dose of Adderall. And, at $5 a pop, it almost seems affordable, too. The problem, however, is that Adderall and its combination of amphetamines have, according to DrugEnquirer’s website, “a high potential for abuse.” 

Essentially, after taking 10 milligram pills for a couple of weeks, many students build up a tolerance, and the initial 10 milligrams no longer makes the cut. Instead of quitting, students often up their dose, buying pills up to 30 milligrams in weight and spending roughly $30 per pill. Often, the habit quickly becomes costly to maintain; but many students find the A they earn on a paper worth the expense. 

Not all students, however, view Adderall as a miracle pill. 

“I don’t think it’s cheating,” said Dayra Pardo, a psychology major who spends five hours on homework each day, “Because it’s not doing the work for you. But I don’t know if it’s right,” she added.

Many students not abusing the substance have a much firmer response. 

“I think it’s unfair,” said a NYU student studying international relations who preferred not to be named because friends of hers take Adderall. “It’s almost like taking steroids, and that’s illegal.” “We all have focus issues,” she added, “But I don’t take anything to get my work done.”